• Workers with healthy diets may be more productive
• Educating workers about heart attacks
• McCain, Obama promise more health-care coverage, differently
• Waistlines expand into a workplace issue
• AHIP outlines plan to reduce health care costs by $145 B
• Group critical illness coverage: an affordable benefit that protects employees more completely
• Treating obesity like a disease could yield significant health improvements, savings
• Tactics for keeping older workers longer
• Employers combat high HMO premiums with aggressive strategies
• Exercise Corner: Back/Upper Body Deskercises
• Recipe Corner: Fruited Chicken Salad

Employees with balanced diets have 10 times more energy, compared to workers with poor dietary habits, reports ComPsych Corp. in its 2008 Health & Productivity Index.

The index shows only 5% of employees with unbalanced diets had high levels of energy, while 50% of workers with balanced diets had high energy. "Energy is a key factor in productivity," says Richard A. Chaifetz, chairman and CEO of ComPsych.

"Lack of energy is also one of the most common health-related complaints we hear from employees," Chaifetz adds. "Given the connection between balanced diets and energy, organizations that promote healthy food as part of a comprehensive wellness program can expect to see a payoff in terms of productivity and performance."

ComPsych, a Chicago-based provider of EAP and wellness programs, surveyed more than 1,000 employees across the United States from employers of all sizes and industries.

Key findings from the 2008 Health & Productivity Index include:

• Among employees with healthy diets, 73% reported having high levels of productivity, compared to 24% of employees with poor dietary habits.
• Fifty-one percent of ideal-weight employees had high morale, while less than half that amount – 25% - of very overweight employees had high morale levels. 
• Fifty-seven percent of healthy-weight employees reported high levels of productivity, while only 27% of very overweight employees reported being highly productive.

Source: EmployeeBenefitNews.com, July 1, 2008

Dr. Boyd Lyles, corporate medical director at U.S. Preventive Medicine, offers a number of steps that employers can take to help workers avoid heart attacks.

These include providing an employee-friendly portal to preventive health care, including health risk assessments and health coaching. He also urges employers to offer health care benefits that encourage prevention and create a cultural expectation of wellness in the office.

"People, by nature, do not seek out medical care when they don't feel bad. They don't want the possibility of getting bad news or to be told that they should be doing things that they don't want to do, such as eating differently, drinking less alcohol, not smoking or exercising more regularly," Lyles explains.

Employers can also create a library of information about preventable medical conditions (including heart attacks) for employees to use, or implement themed months or weeks with a focus on preventive medicine, he adds.

"Everyone, including employers, must focus more attention on prevention, and not simply treating illnesses when they occur," Lyles contends. "[T]he success of any prevention or health awareness program requires that it start at the top. Corporate benefit and human resource managers should help ensure that their senior management is engaged and committed to the effort for it to be successful.

Source: EmployeeBenefitNews.com, August 1, 2008

Susana Espinoza of San Diego is a poster child for what's wrong with American health care.

The 45-year-old mother of two earns about $39,000 a year, but can't afford employer-based health coverage for herself and her sons. And she earns too much for her children to get coverage under Medicaid or California's state children's health-insurance program.

So in an unfortunate compromise that leaves her feeling guilty, Espinoza covers only herself through her job-based plan; her children go uninsured.

When her older son broke his arm playing flag football several years ago, Espinoza borrowed money from friends and took out costly payday loans to cover the $1,800 medical bill. More than three years later, "I'm still paying off the loans," she said.

Presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain think they have solutions to Espinoza's problem.

McCain, a Republican, would provide Espinoza with a $5,000 tax credit, which would help her buy coverage in the private market. Obama, a Democrat, would expand eligibility in government insurance programs for children and the poor and provide income-based subsidies to help her afford coverage.

Like most people, Espinoza knew little of either candidate's disparate plans to overhaul the nation's dysfunctional health-care system.

But that's likely to change in the coming months as the presidential race sharpens its focus on the policy differences that define and separate Obama and McCain.

Nowhere are those differences more striking than in health care.

Obama's proposed universal health-care plan embodies the long-held Democratic Party goal of covering the 47 million Americans who lack health insurance. Employers, insurers, individuals and the government all would have greater roles in assuring coverage through a number of proposals designed to close gaps in the system.

"It builds on the existing system and recognizes that we're not starting from scratch," said M. Gregg Bloche, health care adviser for Obama. "One can't impose sudden radical change on the system from the top down. There are real limitations to what can be accomplished centrally with respect to health care."

McCain's plan takes a different approach. It follows Republican orthodoxy of trying to make the private-insurance marketplace more affordable and competitive by radically altering the tax treatment of health-care benefits.

For years employers have been able to exclude the cost of health benefits from their employees' taxable incomes, but self-employed workers and those who buy private coverage don't have the same tax benefit. To level the playing field, McCain no longer would exempt employees' health benefits from income taxes. Instead, he'd provide refundable tax credits of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to help purchase private insurance.

"If you put $5,000 per family in America on the table, insurance companies ought to be able to figure out a product they can buy. That's something that happens in every other part of the economy. It ought to be able to happen in insurance too," Douglas Holtz-Eakin, chief policy adviser for McCain.

Money left over from insurance that costs less than the tax credit could be deposited into health savings accounts. To improve competition and choice, McCain also would allow insurance to be sold across state lines. His tax measure would generate about $3.6 trillion over 10 years, which would pay for the tax credits, making the entire proposal budget-neutral, Holtz-Eakin said. Some 20 million uninsured Americans would get coverage under the plan, Holtz-Eakin estimated.

Kenneth Thorpe, a noted health economist, put the figure at 5 million to 7 million people, because two-thirds of uninsured Americans would require higher tax credits to pay for family coverage, he said, which averages $12,000 a year -- $4,500 for individuals.

At those prices, the credits likely could pay only for catastrophic coverage, said Mark Pauly, a health-care management professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Holtz-Eakin said insurers would have to provide coverage that met certain standards, but no such standards have been worked out.

Source: McClatchy Washington Bureau, June 16, 2008

TAKE a look around your office tomorrow and see if you can identify a condition that's quietly costing employers billions of dollars a year.

Give up? Here's a clue: waistlines.

Nearly two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the percentage of adults classified as obese doubled from 1980 to 2000 to 31 percent of the population. (To see how obesity has spread, take a look at some startling maps from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: on cdc.gov, search with "Obesity Trends 1985-2006.")

In their capacity as health insurance providers, employers pay heavily for obesity's spread. Obesity accounted for 27 percent of the rise in medical costs from 1987 to 2001, according to research by Kenneth Thorpe, a professor of public health at Emory University, and three colleagues. Obesity costs companies $45 billion a year, according to a report by the Conference Board and RTI International, a research institute.

Obese people tend to miss work more often and tend to be less mobile on the job than their thinner counterparts. Obesity is also a more powerful trigger for chronic health problems than either smoking or heavy drinking, according to research by Roland Sturm, a senior economist at the RAND Corporation.

And it is increasingly being treated as a disease in its own right, with therapy, bariatric surgery and drugs, all of which propel insurance costs higher.

But here is where the situation becomes confusing. Corporate leaders often speak out on issues that cost them tens of billions of dollars annually. Numerous executives have called for a plan for providing health insurance to the uninsured, for example. So why aren't they making more noise about obesity?

"People in charge of benefits plans completely, 100 percent get it," said LuAnn Heinen, director of the Institute on the Costs and Health Effects of Obesity, an offshoot of the National Business Group on Health. It is also clear, she said, that top executives are very interested in health benefit costs. But, she added, "their perception of obesity as a driver of costs -- they may not understand that as well."

Or maybe they are generally aware of obesity's cost -- almost 14 percent of United States chief executives counted it as a top health care benefits concern in the Conference Board-RTI report -- but, as Ms. Heinen said, "It's a sensitive issue to address head-on." (It's quite a contrast to Japan, where employers are actually measuring workers' waists and doling out dieting guidance.)

American employers may also believe that obesity is not their problem to solve, particularly in industries with high employee turnover. After all, workers' health care costs do not rise the minute they gain weight. And people tend to change jobs every four or five years, taking their health care costs with them.

"For most companies, it's not a smart business move," said Eric Finkelstein, director of the public health economics program at RTI. "Putting on a public health hat, you might say it's unfortunate that companies don't do more for employees. But it doesn't make sense from an employer's point of view."

Still, companies can -- and a few do -- take cost-effective steps to encourage employees to lose weight and keep it off. Several studies indicate that simple cash incentives, like payments to employees for completing questionnaires assessing their health, discounts at health clubs, reduced health insurance premiums, can all help.

In addition, changing the habits of a few workers may affect the behavior of many more. Nicholas A. Christakis, a doctor and a sociology professor at Harvard, has studied the effects of social networks on obesity. When one friend gains or loses a lot of weight, he found, the odds improve that another will, as well. "You can take advantage of this multiplicative power of networks, so my behavior influences you, and you influence the next guy, and so on," he said.

PSEG, the utility company based in Newark, recognizes in its wellness and weight-management programs the power of employees to influence one another. Several years ago, it began analyzing which illnesses and injuries were most common among employees. Not surprisingly for a company with workers who carry heavy equipment and operate jackhammers, musculoskeletal injuries were the most common cause of disabilities and absences. Digging deeper, the company found that obese employees were far more likely to get hurt.

One lineman who weighed 350 pounds could not ride in a bucket to elevated wires and other equipment, recalled Dr. Ronald Mack, PSEG's medical director. Dr. Mack had long been generally aware that obesity was an issue for many workers, but "that was an aha moment," he said.

Over the last few years, PSEG has revamped its wellness programs to emphasize weight and nutrition. It has also added some modest financial incentives for participation, like payments for filling out personal health evaluations.

The programs have not yet changed overall injury rates, but the employees who used all the services have 18 percent fewer missed days than their counterparts.

"Engagement, engagement, engagement," Dr. Mack said. "That's the goal."

Source: York Times, Kelley Holland, June 23, 2008

Five Core Principles to Ensure Patients Receive High-Value Health Care

The U.S. could reduce total health care spending and improve the quality of patient care if the plan proposed today by America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) was implemented. PricewaterhouseCoopers reviewed AHIP’s proposals and estimates and concluded that if these proposals are fully implemented, the nation’s total health care expenditures could be $145 billion lower than currently projected by the year 2015.

"Based on our analysis, these initiatives, if implemented broadly, can yield significant savings," said Jack Rodgers, Director of Health Policy Economics, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The rising cost of medical services has a clear impact on patients, employees, employers of every size competing in an increasingly global marketplace, and taxpayers who fund public health care programs. Reflecting the urgent need to stem the unsustainable growth in the cost of medical care, AHIP’s Board of Directors has developed a strategy that teams innovative health plan cost containment tools with sensible public policy initiatives to make health care more affordable. This initiative is part of an 18-month effort to present a roadmap that offers comprehensive solutions to address the nation’s health care crisis. These solutions have been designed to be workable, affordable, and achievable now—through a uniquely American public-private effort.

In November 2006, AHIP’s Board of Directors announced a comprehensive proposal to cover every American using a public-private, federal-state approach. In April 2007, AHIP’s Board proposed a set of recommendations that — if implemented — would lead to a safer, higher quality health care system. In December 2007, AHIP’s Board released a proposal to guarantee access to health care coverage in the individual market and announced support for third party review of rescission decisions and their commitment to limiting pre-existing condition exclusions.

“The nation faces complex health care challenges and only an integrated strategy that addresses costs, quality and access will bend the cost curve and allow the country to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health care,” said Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of AHIP.

Disease management, care coordination, prevention, moving from paper to electronic transactions, transitioning to a value-based payment system, and addressing how new technology can be most effectively introduced into the system will allow the country to achieve more value for its health care investment. The AHIP proposal presents programs that are working now in these areas and maps out how the public and private sectors can work together to achieve these goals.

• Principle #1: Patients and their doctors must have the information and tools they need to evaluate treatment options and make health care decisions on the basis of safety, quality and cost.
  
  AHIP Proposal: Access to information that compares the effectiveness and cost of treatments: Give providers, patients and purchasers access to a trusted source where they can find up-to-date and objective information on which health care services are most effective and provide the best value.
  
• Principle #2: Patients and doctors want an efficient, interconnected health care delivery system that reduces medical errors.
  
  AHIP Proposal: Health information technology: Encourage widespread adoption of tools such as electronic health records (EHRs), personal health records (PHRs), secure e-visits with physicians, and e-prescribing.
  
• Principle #3: Doctors and nurses need the freedom to practice medicine without worrying about frivolous lawsuits.
  
  AHIP Proposal: Reforming the legal system: Replace the current medical liability system with a dispute resolution process consisting of an objective, independent administrative process to provide quick and fair resolution to disputes while promoting evidence-based medicine.
  
• Principle #4: Health insurance plans are transitioning to a system that more closely aligns payments with the quality of care patients receive.
  
  AHIP Proposal: Build health care reform around quality improvement by rewarding safety, value and effectiveness: Work for the broader adoption of value-based reimbursement mechanisms and provide consumers with more actionable information about health care value.
  
• Principle #5: The nation must move towards a system of care that focuses on keeping people healthy, detects disease at the earliest possible stage and rewards chronic care management.
  
  AHIP Proposal: Enhanced disease management, care coordination and prevention programs: Deploy a new generation of strategies that emphasize prevention, improve chronic care and tailor healthcare for patients to help them live longer and stay healthier.

“The goal is to keep people healthy and health insurance plans have pioneered the next generation of cost containment strategies necessary to advance this objective," Ignagni said. "Health insurance plans have made measurable progress, but the nation needs a coordinated approach across the public and private sectors to maximize the impact of these strategies."

Source: America's Health Insurance Plans, May 29, 2008

In the event of a serious illness, a common misperception is that as long as employees have health and disability plans, they have the complete protection they need to recover financially.

This view evaporates once people understand that recovery presents additional expenses that are not typically covered by traditional insurance. Even with comprehensive health and disability coverage, out-of-pocket medical and unanticipated non-medical expenses add up. Typical costs include travel to treatment centers, lost wages from a spouse taking time off, household bills on a decreased income and alternative and out-of-network treatments. This is at a time of a low national savings rate and rising employee cost-sharing and deductibles.

It isn't surprising that critical illness insurance is prevalent in Europe and Canada where universal health care coverage is available, because even when medical coverage is very low or free, there are significant costs associated with recovery.

Modern medicine is helping beat prevalent illnesses, but serious conditions such as cancer, heart attack and stroke can have a lasting financial impact. Americans are driven to use savings, rely on high-interest credit cards, borrow from family and even take out a second mortgage. This financial threat is magnified given the prevalence of serious illnesses. The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association estimates that about 1.2 million Americans suffered a first or recurrent coronary attack last year, and roughly 700,000 Americans each year suffer a new or recurrent stroke.

Compelling industry research shows how close to home this issue hits. A recent critical illness study by The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America revealed 7 of 10 Americans feel their families would experience financial hardship or stress if they were to suffer a critical illness.

Affordable supplemental coverage

Guardian's new group critical illness coverage provides lump-sum benefits to individuals and to small and midsize business owners and their families for six leading illnesses and events: cancer, heart attack, stroke, major organ transplant, kidney failure and coronary artery bypass graft.

An innovative hospital admission rider to the critical illness plan, which is rare in the industry, can be added to provide a per-diem benefit for inpatient stays for all other medical conditions, including accidents. The hospital benefit stems concerns that policyholders will be left without protection if they develop a critical illness not covered under their policy.

Barry Petruzzi, second vice president of group insurance products at Guardian, sees a growing demand for this product traced to employers being squeezed by medical costs and employees who are then often faced with increasing out-of-pocket expenses. Additionally, critical illness coverage with a hospital rider is a nice complement to high-deductible health plans because it eliminates worries about deductible hurdles if a major illness occurs. As a supplemental benefit, group critical illness coverage is an affordable way to fill a gap in coverage while complementing employers' overall benefits packages.

Employee populations have an opportunity to reduce their financial risks in the event that they suffer a medical event. Benefit payments can be used any way an insured chooses. "Critical illness coverage helps ensure an emotionally difficult time does not become a financially stressful one, too," says Petruzzi, noting that no matter what age or salary a person makes, many Americans are not financially prepared for a serious illness.

Brokers and their employer clients are finding that critical illness coverage as part of a benefits package helps make up for changes in core medical benefits. Another scenario that Guardian's producer groups have reported is an employer's willingness to subsidize a piece of the coverage and allow employees to purchase additional benefits.

Employee education is key

Guardian believes in a simple enrollment process that involves educating employees so that they can make sound decisions for themselves and their families. This includes certified enrollment specialists who are available to conduct live enrollment meetings on eligible cases and help educate workers on the value of this new employee benefit.

Emphasis is on how medical advances make serious conditions much more survivable than ever before, but come with a fairly significant price tag that is made affordable and convenient through payroll deduction. A typical policy might cost just $3 to $4 a week.

"We're sensitive to the fact that employees only have so much money to go around, but a big piece of the education to help folks make their buying decision is to let them know it's not as expensive as they might think, especially when offered through the workplace," Petruzzi says.

Educational efforts also target the producer community. "As trusted advisers to their clients, it's important brokers understand how this new workplace benefit fits into a financial security plan and can protect workers more completely," he says. "The great thing is it's a simple plan to understand and, it provides comprehensive coverage when a person needs it most."

Source: EmployeeBenefitNews.com, July 1, 2008

More women than men say paying for health care is a challenge, according to a survey by the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, a provider of employee and voluntary benefits.

For example, 58% of women were more likely to find paying for health care premiums and out-of-pocket costs a struggle, compared to men (47%).

"As women continue to make strides in the workforce and gain earning parity with men, this may help to lessen the gender discrepancy we see with paying for health care," says Tim Bireley, vice president of group medical at Guardian.

In the survey, however, women (51%) are more likely, compared to men (42%), to have done some retirement health care planning.

Despite the findings, Bireley believes that the need and opportunity to educate consumers about health care transcends gender.

"We have to make sure that employees are fully absorbing information. We have to consistently surround the consumers and share information with them at several touch points until they have a solid understanding of their health care benefits, he adds.

Guardian, which surveyed 473 individuals employed either full-time or part-time, also found that two-thirds of workers admit that health care plans, coverage and benefits are difficult to understand.

Moreover, respondents believe that the rising costs of health care, in part, can be contributed to: profits of drug companies (28%), lawsuits against physicians (14%), physician fees and salaries (9%), poor health of the population (10%) and obesity (9%).

Source: Employee Benefit News, June 20, 2008

Many people set fitness goals and resolve to lose weight, with varying degrees of success, at the turn of each New Year. Since being overweight and obese remains widespread, many employers are using disease management programs and incentives to encourage their workers to lose weight.

"Obesity management is being incorporated into existing disease management programs for diabetes and heart conditions. In the future, disease management programs will be offered with obesity as the primary condition. Disease management programs for obesity are few and relatively new," observes Sue Frechette, a principal consultant at Northfield Associates, a Warren, Vermont-based consulting firm.

Obesity "is probably the most daunting health problem facing America today. There is heightened awareness of treating obesity on its own," says Judy White, senior VP of health operations for U.S. Care Management, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based disease management firm. "We're hearing more and more that they'd like to incorporate weight management into their disease management or prevention overall. We're hearing a great increase in interest in trying to address it."

Some companies are offering a separate disease management program for employees who undergo bariatric surgery, says Mary Kaye Sawyer-Morse, a clinical manager at Avidyn Health, an Addison, Texas-based disease management firm.

Having a disease management program focused on obesity may help employees address their weight in a time and manner that's convenient and comfortable for them. "Employees are utilizing it more and more, and it's something you can do at your own convenience. That way folks can get the support when they need it," comments Amy Milazzo, manager of disease management and wellness for Capital District Physicians' Health Plans in Albany, N.Y.

Considered a disease?

Some people question whether obesity should be considered a disease or treated like a disease by employers and disease management firms.

U.S. Care Management uses the term "weight-management program" because "nobody wants to be labeled or participating in an obesity program," White remarks. Employers are reluctant to call obesity a disease because "it's not acceptable among their employee group," she says.

Sawyer-Morse agrees: "It's still framed as a co-morbidity. They'll frame it under getting healthier, getting active, eating right."

Milazzo says semantics matter.

"You've got to be careful about that word [obesity]. Weight management is a less culturally offensive word," she says.

Frechette feels this is changing.

"Employers and payers were initially hesitant [to call obesity a disease]. However, this has changed for two primary reasons," she observes.

"Court decisions around obesity issues, whether workers' compensation, Americans with Disabilities Act and others, generally favor the employee," she says. Also, rising medical costs related to overweight and obesity also have changed some employers' views, she adds.

High cost of extra pounds

Cost is often the driver of the new approach in disease management. Employees with a high body-mass index have average medical costs more than 50% higher than normal-weight employees, according to Sawyer-Morse. In addition, obese employees are nearly 75% more likely to experience a high rate of absenteeism (seven or more absences during a six-month period) than normal-weight employees.

"Employers are recognizing that, with 65% of Americans being overweight and 30% obese, obesity is increasing the cost of doing business," Frechette notes. "They are paying for obesity - directly for additional medical services and indirectly for additional absenteeism, disability and work-related injuries. They can pay now for obesity services or pay later for medical treatment of the implications of obesity - diabetes, heart conditions," she says.

Likewise, Dean Witherspoon, CEO of Health Enhancement Systems, comments, "We're losing ground in the fight against fat, and it's costing American businesses. Annual health care costs are 11% higher among obese vs. non-obese people, and the trend is only getting worse."

And it's not just the weight, obesity usually comes with a variety of co-morbidities that exacerbate cost and treatment issues. Co-morbid conditions include heart disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal problems, depression, high blood pressure and high cholesterol to name a few.

"It's a rare case where obesity stands alone," without any co-morbid conditions, White says.

"Weight can affect so many aspects of your life and chronic illness. Dropping five or 10 pounds can sometimes be the difference between getting Type 2 diabetes and having your blood sugar be normal," Milazzo says.

The estimated cost of obesity is $29 per member per month for a health plan with one million members. Overweight workers spend 37% more on prescription drugs, and obese workers spend twice as much on prescription drugs, compared to those at a healthy weight. Employees with a body-mass index over 40 have twice as many workers' compensation claims as employees at a healthy weight, according to Frechette.

"So much of that [cost] could be prevented with good attention to what the causes are," White suggests.

Widespread problem

Kronos Optimal Health Co. recently screened more than 5,200 Americans, testing body-mass index, cholesterol levels and blood pressure. It discovered women are healthier than men, but both groups have high-risk factors that can lead to heart attacks, strokes and diabetes.

More than 75% of men ages 40 and older and 72% of men under age 40 are overweight or obese. Likewise, more than 64% of women over age 40 and 50% of women under age 40 are overweight or obese, Kronos found.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 66.3% of American adults age 20 and over are overweight or obese, and 32% of those age 20 and over are obese.

Advice for employers

Businesses "should aggressively attack obesity from all fronts. The financial implications [of obesity] are ugly," Frechette asserts.

She offers these recommendations:

• Ask disease management vendors to incorporate obesity management into your diabetes and heart disease programs.

• Find or request development of obesity-specific disease management programs. Incorporate obesity services into your benefit plan design.

• Sponsor weight-loss programs like onsite Weight Watchers.

• Create incentives for employees to reach (or remain in) specific body-mass index ranges.

• Be creative when encouraging (incentives) and helping employees reach and remain at a healthy weight.

It's best to introduce a program gradually so that employees "don't get mad about heavy-handedness and fearful about their jobs," Sawyer-Morse advises. Companies shouldn't expect an immediate return on investment because "weight and body-mass index are slow to move," she adds.

Al Lewis, executive director of Disease Management Purchasing Consortium International, warns against expecting too much from weight-management programs.

"It's one of those classic situations that is measured wrong, and the benefits consultants don't seem to notice," he explains. "You start with all these obese folks and say they lost 2,000 pounds collectively. Well, guess what? The people below the cutoff point for the program probably gained 2,000 pounds. The bottom line is weight regresses to the mean, just like everything else. I recommend that health plans offer it for employers because employers like it, but not do it on their own insured populations except as a rider."

Milazzo stresses the importance of following up after a weight-management program to encourage participants to continue the healthy habits they started during the program. "It's not a one-shot deal if you really want people to be able to change. You've got to incorporate" ongoing supports, like online tools and email reminders, she says.

Source: EmployeeBenefitNews.com, August 12, 2008

A new survey of recent retirees conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute reveals that, if employers ask employees to work longer within two years of their planned retirement date and offer them incentives to do so, many may be willing to work longer.

According to the study, respondents typically retired for one of four reasons: retirement becomes affordable, lack of job satisfaction, a desire for more personal or family time, and/or medical problems.

However, 61% of retirees report they would have been open to an approach from their employer asking them to stay longer with the company. Just 10% indicate they would have reacted negatively to an approach asking them to delay their retirement.

The survey tested a total of 19 possible incentives that might encourage retiring workers to postpone retirement. Four of these appear especially likely to be successful:

Half of retirees (48%) indicate that feeling truly needed for an assignment would have been extremely or very effective in encouraging them to delay their retirement.

Moreover, of those ranking this as one of the top two most effective incentives, 72% say it might have prompted them to stay at least two more years with the company.

Half of retirees with a defined benefit pension state receiving a full pension while working part time would have been effective in delaying their retirement (50%), and almost as many feel this way about receiving a partial pension while working part time (44%).

Seven in 10 of those rating each among the top two most effective incentives report they would likely have stayed at least two more years if it had been offered to them (72% for full pension; 71% for partial pension).
Thirty-eight percent report that being able to work seasonally or on a contract basis would have been effective in encouraging them to delay retirement. Among those rating this as one of the top two incentives, more than three-quarters (77%) say it might have prompted them to stay two years or more with the company.

Source: EmployeeBenefitNews.com, July 22, 2008

HMO premium rates are predicted to increase by 11.8% in 2009, reports Hewitt Associates. That number is lower than last year's prediction (13.2%), but will still outpace general inflation and health care cost trends.
The Southeast is predicted to have the highest average rate increase (15.4%), while the Southwest will see the lowest increase, 7.3%, Hewitt reports.

"While initial 2009 HMO premium rate increases remain high, we expect to see that employers will once again be able to reduce overall increases—by at least 2 or 3 percentage points -- through aggressive negotiations, changes in plan offerings and designs, and an increased focus on employee health and productivity," says Jeff Smith, a senior consultant and co-leader of Hewitt's HMO rate analysis project.

Source: Employee Benefit News, May 5, 2008

Let's Do the Twist

This torso twist stretch for the entire upper body can be done sitting right in your chair at the office. Perform it several times a day, whenever you get that "tense" feeling in your body.

Sit erect in a stationary chair with both feet flat on the floor. Look straight ahead. Slowly tilt your torso to the right as you reach around behind yourself with your right hand. Grasp the top right corner of your chair with your right hand. Complete the stretch by moving your left hand as close as possible to your right hand. Stretch as far as you can and hold it for 15 seconds. Repeat four to six times, twisting left and right, aiming to turn the body a little farther each time.

Tummy Twist

Performing this range of motion exercise several times a day will help prevent that tight, uncomfortable feeling in the trunk of your body that comes from sitting all day.

Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Hold your bent elbows down at your sides with fists up. Lean slightly forward and twist side to side with your elbows leading the movement. Repeat for 30 to 45 seconds.

Seventh Inning Reach and Stretch

This stretch is good for your arms and body trunk. Done slowly, it also serves as a great relaxation technique. Try very hard not to bend forward as you lean to the right or left.

Stand with your feet spread shoulder width apart. Raise one arm, then bend over sideways reaching over your head, until your arm is parallel to the floor (or as far as you can). Hold for five to 10 seconds. Repeat with other arm.

Tarzan Stretch

This is a good way to "open-up" the chest muscles after you have been sitting, leaning forward all day at your desk.

Interlace your fingers behind your back, palms facing in. Raise and straighten your arms, squeezing your shoulder blades together and "opening up" your chest. Fold for five to ten seconds. Repeat five to ten times.

Source: University of California, Living Well

Try serving with warmed French bread.
 
RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

Salad
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
3 cups 1-inch chunks ripe cantaloupe
1 medium English (seedless) cucumber, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch pieces (2 cups)

Tarragon Dressing
1/4 cup plain lowfat yogurt
1/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon, or 3/4 teaspoon dried leaves, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Grill about 5 to 6 minutes on each side, or until no longer pink in the center. Let cool, then cut into strips.

2. Make the dressing: In a large serving bowl, whisk the yogurt, mayonnaise, tarragon, and salt until well blended.

3. Add the melon, cucumber, and chicken. Toss gently to mix and coat. Serve at room temperature.

Source: Family Fun Magazine